by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
The book that inspired my now three-year obsession was Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Played With Fire. I knew I had a lot to say about the Trump Era and after some fits and starts, I decided to try to think up an American Lisbeth Salander in that context.
That was a long time ago and the whole thing has changed dramatically. Now I have four compelling stories all set in the same universe that pretty much are the origin story for something akin to an American female James Bond. (Sorta.) It’s not a one-to-one, but rather than the vigilante like Salander, my character has, by the end of the series (which paves the way for a series of books about her new life) something bigger than her.
Anyway.
Having watched Mare of Easttown, I realize that these four books really need an infusion of character. Things are going really well, but Mare of Easttown is forcing me to up my game. I have a small library of books to read as soon as possible.
But given what’s going on in most of these four books, I really, really need to mull made the show such a great story. The novels in my head definitely share some of the themes of Mare of Eattown and it’s just a matter of figuring out how to take them to the next level.
The key thing is to stop writing about writing and to actually start to write. But I’m something of a development obessive, so it just takes time to get to the point where I can start writing without living in fear that everything is going to collapse AGAIN.
For a very specific personal reason, I’m kind of locked in neutral for a few days and I’m using that time to throw myself into development. I’m hoping that maybe I even dig around the outline of the second book in a big way by the time I get back to writing on the first novel.
